WEEK 16

this week, your challenge is to... 

• try grocery shopping waste-free. 
• don't be intimidated, it's completely feasible!
• (1) bring a box filled with mason jars/containers to a bulk food store. 
• I went here!
• (2) when you walk in, ask the cashier to weigh your containers before filling them. 
• (3) fill each container up with whatever you need. 
• (4) when you get to the cash register, they will weigh each container and subtract it's original weight. 
• after calculating, we found that it ended up being cheaper than COSTCO!
• (5) then we walked next door to the farmer's market. 
• I went here!
• (6) we bought all of our fruits and veggies without any packaging.
• make sure to bring your own re-usable bags because otherwise they'll use plastic bags. 

WEEK 11

this week, your challenge is to... 

• start composting.
• (1) to minimize landfills.
• > residential waste is made up of 40% compostable materials!
• (2) to save money.
• > you'll no longer have to buy chemical fertilizers.  
• (3) to save resources. 
• > compost helps with water retention so you'll waste less water. 
• (4) to improve your soil. 
• > compost returns valuable nutrients to the soil. 
• (5) to reduce your environmental impact. 
• > decrease CO2 emissions caused by vehicles who transport waste. 
• > stop chemical fertilizers from running off into our rivers, lakes and streams. 
• > diminish groundwater pollution caused by buried organics (when they react with metals in landfills).

- Check out these basic tips to become more familiar with composting. 

- Look up your city's composting regulations to see if there is a program you can follow.
- Watch this video to learn how to compost on your own! 

WEEK 8

this week, your challenge is to... 

• eliminate paper towels and napkins.
• choose to reuse dish towels and fabric napkins instead. 

read up on this article to learn about the environmental impacts of paper towels.

WEEK 7

this week, your challenge is to... 

• switch to using bamboo toothbrushes. 
• (1) over 4.7 billion plastic toothbrushes are dumped in landfills every year.

Make your household more environmentally conscious by buying a toothbrush like this one!